Written Conversations...It's More Than Passing Notes in Class

Written Conversation is a variation of journaling a dialog, from which chatting and texting are also derived. Whereas the latter are useful for (and much quicker than) penning a friend thousands of miles away in "real" or "delayed" time, Written Conversation is a technique achieved with a partner or a whole group of students who are contributing to the same conversation at the same time, in the same place. Basically, one person writes a word, statement, or question on a piece of paper and then passes the paper to their dialoging partner, who then writes something in response and passes back the paper. Hence, there is only one rule: "Just write!" This exercise can go on for several minutes to several hours, depending on the purpose and/or interest of the conversationalists. In effect, it's like a sanctioned session of "passing notes in class".

I tried this technique with my Literacy buddy last Thursday during our initial session. He told me straight out at the beginning of our time together that he did not like to write. However, what I found intriguing was that every time I passed the paper back to him, his wide grin was the tell-tale sign that he seemed excited and curious to see what I had written to him. Strangely enough, he, too, seemed to get a lot of delight out of crafting words together to write a message back to me. In his last sentence to me, he said, "This is fun!" Was it the change in writing technique? The secrecy of not knowing what his writing partner was going to say to him? Or, perhaps, was it the first time he had received "mail"?  Whatever the reason, it got him talking...and writing. Each sentence sparked another idea and soon he forgot to write down his thoughts and began to engage in an oral conversation with me. This is a great technique to use to get shy kids to talk, but it can be a little more difficult if you have a talker who does not like to write. Once I praised him for his ideas and nudged him to write them all down so that I could read them too, he was able to re-focus and write what he had just told me verbally. And so it went on for about 7-10 minutes. When I saw that he was getting antsy, I knew it was time to move onto something else.

However, this exercise got me thinking. Written Conversation could be used to scaffold students who struggle with writing or with finding their voice by starting a dialogue between a teacher and student or between a small group of students to get juices flowing. What I envision for struggling writers, is to use Written Conversation as an opportunity for them to tell their own stories in a way that is meaningful and unique to them. These are "quick writes", which can help students to build upon what they are currently capable of doing and knowing and eventually progressing to longer documents in which their voices speak out to the world about who they are and what they think about.

Additionally, Written Conversations can be applied to fiction and non-fiction texts, and can also involve the whole class in writing a story or discussing a Read-Aloud book simultaneously. By using such technology as Google Documents, each student can contribute something either anonymously or by login ID (depending upon how the instructor sets up the document). Unlike class discussions, in which only one person can speak at a time, Written Conversation is an ongoing, silent discussion which involves all participants contributing their ideas and to be a part of the dialoging process. Obviously, expectations for this type of writing approach must be made ahead of time, in order for a large group of students to have a respectful discussion. However, this, too, could be a topic of discussion for a Written Conversation.

I found it to be a fascinating way to get a student writing, not worrying about conventions, formatting or spelling. It was just to get pen to paper, and ideas into written words in a conversational style. Written Conversation has limitless possibilities of allowing students' voices to be heard in "real" time, and in a safe and edifying environment. I'm excited to explore its possibilities...